sofranke

Hi,

I have a 2005 GX470 with 28k miles. Purchased in April 2005, so the original battery is just shy of 6yrs old...

Recently, the radio has be acting funny. For example, if the radio is tuned to 107.3, left to sit over night, there is a good chance it will be tuned to 107.1 in the AM. My wife also reported that while driving to the store the other day, the radio switched from 107.3 to 107.1 out of the blue while driving.

I can assure you we're not inadvertantly hitting buttons by accident or anything like that. I've also seen this scenario with other stations 105.9 to 105.7, etc, and thought this could be a strange sign the battery is becoming weak (realistically, I should have changed it a year ago anyway).

I'm not interested in having the radio pulled out or anything like that.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Eric
Maryland
2005 GX470 (28k)
2008 GS460 (2k)

BurgBoxstr

electronics can/will do funny things w/ a weak battery. At 6 years on an OEM (or pretty any) battery, you're pretty much on borrowed time unless you've conditioned it / kept it on a maintainer, etc. So, I'd consider getting it replaced sooner rather than later.

Of course, just asking such a question usually jinxes oneself

cobra2top

Mine is also a 05 and has 80K miles on it. My build date was 03/05 so it sounds like we have basically the same aged GX's.

I actually just got back from a oil change and the shop said the battery is living on borrowed time. Supposedly when the truck is up on the lift the rear suspension motor runs (??). When they dropped mine back to the ground, they needed to jump it.

Of course they wanted to sell me a battery which I passed. I actually was just logging in to search to see what brands everyone here is using and saw this post on the first page. Per the shop the battery is a "special" type for Lexus which they happen to have in stock. I read "special" as you dont know cars so let us do it for you, which is their job so I dont fault them. Just that alot of people must fall for it and have them do it. Anyway, to save a few dollars I am going to search here if the battery is truely a special version and then pick one up and install it myself this afternoon.

As Burg stated 6 years is pretty much at the batteries limit. Change it out before the more crazy electonic things start happening or worse, since you are in MD, the snow hits tomorrow and you have to take that GS out to rescue with a jump!! (those are RWD right?)

BurgBoxstr

From memory, which could easily be wrong, 27F is OEM battery size (it's very big). To that point though, I had a tough time finding one in stock at local parts stores (and it was a Sat so my dealer service/parts dept was closed ). Ended up going w/ an Optima Red Top 34R b/c they are good batteries and w/ the 7yr warranty they used to offer. However, they are now only a 36mo warranty and IMNSHO, are not worth the extra premium. Ironically, I did see some at Costco last weekend for $129 so that makes them more compelling against others...

Don't forget to price out your Toyota dealers too as the 4R uses same.

Turbinator

I was waxing the GX and listening to the radio, when suddenly the radio cut out - yet the interior lights were still on, etc. After some digging, I figured out that the battery had pretty much died. The car was not in motion, nor was it being driven, so I don't know if spontaneous station changing is a sign of a weak battery, but it seems the radio does act up when the battery gets weak.

I ended up buying a replacement for about $110 from Lexus directly, which beats the $129 Costco sells them for (as quoted above).

Turby

cssnms

I just replaced my battery in 2005 with OEM battery from Toyota because I noticed things acting up. I didn't want to wait until it got cold and the chance my wife and kids would get in the car only to find the car wouldn't start.

Don't wait until it's to late. Take your truck to Autozone or Track Auto they will test it for free.

cobra2top

Burg, you are right and so was my shop! The battery is not the standard size I was hoping for. I did a quick search on-line and found after searching the large box stores, that Walmart does not even list my GX as a battery option and Pep Boys (Bosch battery) list it for $99 with free install through the end of the month (on-line coupon). I also have a Interstate Battery distributor that is only open during the day. When I bought a battery there in the past, their pricing was pretty good as they are more of the local warehouse that sells to the public.

I will make a few calls in the morning and see what others may have in stock. Worst case, the shop I had it at today wanted $125 installed, which now does not seem so bad and I could have save some time getting it done while it was in the shop. I just did not know what batteries cost for the GX vs my GS that uses a standard sized battery that was around $70 while while back.

ROSCOGX470

I like Sears Die Hard Gold or Platinum. Sears is really good with warranties. I'm on my 3rd year with one in my wifes GMC Envoy and it sits sometimes 4 days in the northeast winters.

cobra2top

I ended up picking up an Interstate. It had a 84 month warranty and they have a warehouse in my town. The cost was $118 which is more then I wanted to spend, but after a Google search, it seems it last for years and most of my search returned Tundra owners (I searched by our size which is rarer them most).

The interesting thing is as I picked it up I had to walk through the warehouse. They had pallets of batteries with import car manufacturer stickers. I read that Interstate is the Dealer OEM replacement battery and it is true from what I saw.

I did run into a problem as I removed the battery. There is a plasic cover on the radiator support. To reach the front of the battery tie down nut you need to unclip the are clips that hold it down. I only unclipped the one closest to the battery and was able to loosened the nut. When I went to reattach the clip I did it wrong and it broke. I will need to pick one up next time I am at the dealer.

Also after I swithced the battery I did have to reset a few things, the clock and memory seats. Also, and kind of odd, the power window down features. You need to power down each window half way from the door switch and then raise it and hold for 1 second. At first I tried to lower the windows from the drivers seat and they would not work. I thought that I may have "messed" something up and would need to hit the dealer for a huge sum!! Fortunately all of the directions on how to fix it in the manual.

Hopefully I get years and years out the the battery!

hammer0008

My oem battery from 1996 es300 lasted 8 years. Why are oems so good.

htbotdvr

I have a gx470 just changed org. battery now my window switch for all windows except driver side don't work from drivers panel but work from there own switch. Any help

lesz

See this thread stuck to the top of this board.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...-or-reset.html